


Imprints

by takahoe



Category: Kamen Rider Drive, Kamen Rider OOO
Genre: M/M, another pitch hit for the exchange, gou and eiji work together, part of a huge au i'm writing, to bring chase and ankh back to life, w/some sweet help from date and gotou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 17:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6529159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takahoe/pseuds/takahoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That’s the thing about kisses. Unlike tattoos, they don’t leave tangible evidence, but they do leave the most powerful imprints.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Imprints

Kiriko had said it would hurt. “It’s permanent you know, Gou. Please think this through.” She had treaded so lightly around him for the past year and Gou was frankly sick of it. Everyone had known how he felt about Chase; and it if they hadn’t, they do now.

As the tattoo gun is pressed against the skin right over his heart, Gou forgets to breathe. There was never any going back. There was never another choice. The tattoo artist draws the first loop down and Gou’s pain sensors twinge a bit. This is nothing, he reminds himself. Nothing compared to the pain of last year. The pain of not having him.

Not even thirty minutes later and it’s done. Three simple loops form the numbers, 000, right over Gou’s heart. Now, he’ll never be gone. He’ll be here forever no matter if Gou’s experiments are successful or not.

God, Gou had loves him. Ignorantly, desperately, pathetically loved him. Chase.

\--

“Do you want sugar?”

Gou is brought back to reality with the deep rumbling of Chase’s question. “Ah, yes. I always do, Chase, I’m a baby who can’t handle black coffee as Nee-chan would say.” Gou offers a half-hearted smile and gets off the stool in their kitchen to help Chase find the sugar.

His voice is different than Gou remembers in his dreams. His night terrors have gotten better over the last week and Date says they’ll be gone before he knows it. But Gou knows that’s a lie to make him feel better. He remembers the nights traveling with Eiji across America trying to find things that made them both feel slightly less dead inside.

_Gou is lucky_ is what Date had told Eiji as a very naked Chase lay in Gou’s arms, both of them sitting on the floor in a laboratory in southern California. “Eiji…” Gou had spoken just softly enough to catch Eiji’s attention and not to wake Chase. Eiji hadn’t responded and had grabbed his things in a furry before storming through the glass doors and out of the building and out of Gou’s life.

_5 years._ That’s how long Eiji had been trying to revive this Ankh figure he spoke of. Even with the extensive knowledge Date possessed, they hadn’t come to any conclusion. Gou’s situation had sparked a new flame in Date’s research and over the course of barely a year and a half, they had figured out a way to regenerate Chase’s body;  and sitting on the floor, covered in a warm body that Gou had never appreciated when it was here the first time around, he began to cry. He cried for his sister, who had loved Chase so desperately for saving her life. He cried for Shinnosuke, who had done his very best to support Chase his entire first life on earth. Lastly, he cried for Eiji, who loves so earnestly, passionately, honestly, and this is the hand life has given him. A life of loneliness that Gou could only hope to understand.

“Gou?” Chase steadies his hands on Gou’s shoulders, preventing Gou from plummeting onto the tile floor.

“Let’s go to bed,” Chase says softly, slipping his hand into Gou’s and leading him to the bedroom.

It’s barely been a month since Chase has been back and Gou is terrified of letting him down. _Please don’t touch me,_ Gou’s brain demands on repeat, but Gou is too weak to fight back. The lack of sleep and no appetite has given him the depression and anxiety he had only experienced in his worst nightmares.

He curses Shinnosuke who still spends superfluous amounts of money sending him medicine and get-well boxes. He curses Kiriko who calls once a week and makes sure Gou is taking said medicine. But as Chase gathers up the courage to touch the skin right above Gou’s heart for the first time, even though Gou knows he’s been staring at it since he came back, Gou can’t curse him.

“What is it?” Chase asks as he runs his fingers over the loops, one by one.

“A tattoo,” Gou whispers back, making a weak attempt to roll over on his side to keep Chase from touching him.

“What does it mean?”

Gou remembers what Date had said. _He may not regain his memories for a while, or at all._ Gou still didn’t think it would be half bad if Chase never recovered them at all. _He would never remember how I treated him like shit out of fear and a lack of understanding._

By the time Chase’s finger finishes tracing the three 000’s, his eyes change. It’s almost as if the entire room shifts and a single tear starts to fall from Chase’s left eye. Then his right. Then before Gou can stop it, Chase is sobbing like he should have the day he died.

“What?” Chase is attempting to wipe the tears from his eyes but they keep coming, “What is happening to me?”

Before Gou can answer the questions keep coming as do the tears, “Did you hate me? Why did you hate me? Who is Shinnosuke? Kiriko?”

He places is head on Gou’s chest, Chase’s tears soaking through Gou’s shirt and Gou picks up his hand to run it through Chase’s hair. Gou is working up the courage to answer all of those questions when suddenly Chase stops asking questions and only says one more thing.

Picking his head up and looking Gou directly in the eyes, “I loved you.”

Before he can answer that, Chase’s lips are on his and Gou can’t breathe. It’s like someone had just punched him in the chest and knocked him to the ground.

Chase pulls back when Gou doesn’t return the favor, “I don’t know why I did that. It just felt right,” Chase smiles his first genuine smile and Gou feels the air flow back into his lungs.

“Gou,” Chase begins to speak again and Gou presses his index finger to Chase’s lips before grabbing the back of his head and pulling Chase down to kiss him again. Hands placed in each other’s hair, pulling desperately and Gou can finally feel his body again. Gou wants to do everything in his power so they never stop kissing.

That’s the thing about kisses. Unlike tattoos, they don’t tangible evidence, but they do leave the most powerful imprints.

**Author's Note:**

> i take commissions/requests at zyuohking.tumblr.com!  
> come cry w/me abt chase/gou also


End file.
